Mary Gauthier

Alt-country singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier wrote her first song at 35, having decided after a life of extremes, with plenty of negatives and a few brilliant bright spots, to dedicate herself full-time to songwriting and a career in music. It was with her 1999 album, Drag Queens in Limousines, that she exploded onto the scene, as critics compared her self-described “country noir” to the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle, John Prine, and, not surprisingly, Lucinda Williams. The success of Drag Queens led to main-stage shows at festivals around the country and multiple tours in Europe. Embraced by critics, folkies, and No Depression fans alike, Gauthier’s warmly candid treatment of her fringe-dwelling, downtrodden subjects rings true, never sentimental. Her songs ― especially those on 2014’s Trouble & Love ― are painfully personal, yet they somehow infiltrate the souls of her listeners, no matter how different the paths they’ve followed through their lives.